


the right thing after all

by LilyEllison



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Couch Sex, Established Relationship, F/M, Memories, Post-Season/Series 03, St. Patrick's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 15:15:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21101582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyEllison/pseuds/LilyEllison
Summary: Karen and Matt reminisce about a certain St. Patrick's Day. Post-DDS3. Newly established relationship.





	the right thing after all

**Author's Note:**

> Written while listening to Hozier's "Shrike" a lot. (Though the title is from "Real Love" by Carly Rae Jepsen.) Thanks, as always, to Quietshade and irelandhoneybee for being my cheerleaders!
> 
> I had to get tipsy to overcome my posting paralysis, so apologies if there are mistakes...(Don't ask me how many times I googled the spelling of "reminisce"...)

Karen forced herself to take the stairs up to Matt’s apartment at a leisurely pace. She wanted to race up, but then she’d be all out of breath and possibly a little sweaty by the time she reached the sixth floor, and that didn’t seem like the best way to start a Saturday evening in.

She couldn’t stop her heart from racing anyway. It was all so new and precious and sweet. She still couldn’t quite believe that he was going to answer the door and she was going to kiss him and that was just her life now.

She didn’t bother to slow down on the last flight, and she smiled when the door opened even before she reached the top step. He was just as eager to be with her, and it made the back of her neck tingle.

“Hi,” she said, feeling her skin flush hot.

“Hey,” he answered, reaching his hand out and tugging her inside as soon as she grasped it. She pressed close against him as they closed the door. “Hope you’re hungry,” he murmured as her arms wound around his neck. “I may have gone overboard.”

The air was spicy and delicious — definitely an order from the Thai place on the corner. He knew her favorites, and she was willing to bet he had gotten them all.

She kissed him playfully. “I brought my appetite.”

“Good,” he sighed, seeking her lips for a longer kiss that made her body thrum with want. His hands wandered from her waist to her hips and then slid into the back pockets of her jeans. A quiet sigh escaped her and he bent her backward a little as he deepened the kiss. She moved one hand to run into his hair, thoroughly enjoying herself.

And just when she was thinking that dinner could definitely wait, he was breaking away. “Better not let the food get cold,” he said, and she laughed.

They hardly made a dent in the takeout. Karen thought they probably laughed more than they ate, aided by the crisp beer and the warm, heady rush of just being together. They filled the fridge with leftovers and then collapsed comfortably together on the couch, content just to be near each other, though anticipation was sparking undeniably in the air between them.

Karen slid off her shoes and turned so she was sitting against the arm of the couch. She stretched her legs out across Matt’s lap, and his hands started to roam over the denim covering her thighs. One of his fingers traced the tufted outline of a small hole, then ran over the threads that stretched across her skin. She bit her lip as the sensation quivered up her leg.

“I remember these,” he said, his voice rumbly and quiet.

And Karen was immediately thrown back to a cold almost-spring day at a divey bar, something by U2 blasting over the speakers, Foggy sloshing green beer onto the floor as he told nonsensical jokes, and Matt talking with his lips right next to her ear as they sat crammed together in an overcrowded booth.

She’d been wearing these same jeans. They were her favorites, though she wore them out less now that they were getting frayed. And at one point in that jam-packed booth, Matt’s hand had accidentally — or on purpose, she debated with herself for weeks afterward about which — brushed over the same small hole and...lingered.

“I didn’t think you’d remember that,” she said, hearing the smile in her own voice.

“How could I forget?” he asked, leaning in to kiss her. “It was a great day.”

It certainly had been for Karen. She was absolutely infatuated with Matt — sweaty palms, dopey smile, the whole nine yards — and he’d spent almost the entire time they were out touching her in some way. Completely innocently, of course. Or at least plausibly so.

“I wasn’t sure if it made much of an impression on you,” she said.

“You think I don’t remember letting all my old law school friends think we were dating?”

Karen laughed. Foggy had handed his phone over to a female friend to take a picture, and she’d asked Matt, “Do you want one with your girlfriend, too?” And he’d just said, “Karen,” to make sure he had her attention and then opened his arm to her, pulling her in close and tucking his chin against her head. Karen hadn’t needed to smile for the camera — she was already grinning ear to ear. And he’d kept that arm around her for longer than he needed to.

Later, she came up with reasons to brush it all off. But the photo — which she made Foggy print at a drugstore kiosk thing the very next day — became one of her favorite possessions.

“I wanted it to be true,” Matt continued wistfully.

She rolled her eyes. “C’mon, you had to know,” she said in disbelief. “I was not that subtle. And couldn’t you...I mean, you had to sense it.” She cleared her throat softly. “Physically.”

His hand inched up her thigh. “Are you saying you were _physically_ attracted to me, Ms. Page?”

She swatted at his arm. “Don’t make fun of me.” She ran her fingers nervously through her hair. “Oh, god, I’m sure I embarrassed myself a million times back then.”

He squeezed her leg. “No, Karen, don’t think that.”

“Well, what should I think? You must’ve known how I felt for a pretty long time before anything actually happened.”

“I felt the same way for a pretty long time before anything actually happened.” Matt sighed. “After that day, I felt like I needed to do a better job of keeping my distance. Because you didn’t know my secret, and it didn’t seem right. But it got harder with time.” His fingers moved again to play with the rip in her jeans. “You should know by now that I find you very hard to resist.”

She smiled as he pulled her more fully into his lap. She had wondered for weeks after St. Patrick’s Day what Matt was really thinking. He hadn’t avoided her, but he also hadn’t pursued her, and so she’d waited breathlessly to see how things would play out. She wasn’t sure if he’d regretted flirting with her so much, or if he was just shy, or if maybe the office romance element had gotten to him.

Now she knew that while her secrets had been things she could shove down and try to forget about temporarily, his were always active. He walked around in a constant state of deceit.

But he didn’t have to do that with her anymore — he didn’t have to pretend. And neither did she.

Her chest squeezed as she kissed him, her hand coming up to caress his stubbly jawline. He leaned her back to kiss her neck and, as much as she loved it, she was suddenly impatient with the angle, needing to be able to reach more of him. She pulled away and then repositioned herself to straddle his lap.

He responded with an appreciative sound, his hands sliding up under her sweater. She was glad to be rid of it as he pulled it up and over her head. She was burning up already. And she very much wanted to feel his skin against her own. She worked on unbuttoning his shirt, clumsy in her haste, and then broke the kiss to strip off her tank top. She sank into him, wanting as much contact as possible. His fingers tangled in her hair and she sighed.

But eventually she needed to kiss him again, and she moved more upright on his lap and found his mouth with her own. He fiddled with the waistband of her jeans, his fingers lingering at the button before pulling back.

“I thought about it that day,” he murmured between kisses. “What it would be like to bring you back here...” He exhaled in a rush.

“So did I,” she answered softly. “When I got home, I couldn’t stop imagining your hands all over me.”

He slowly unhooked her bra and trailed his fingertips lightly over her back. “Like this?”

“Yes,” she whispered, arching back into his touch.

He whisked the straps off of her shoulders and tossed it away. His hands slid over her skin, touching everywhere but where she really wanted, until finally he cupped her aching breasts, his thumbs caressing her nipples. “Like this?”

“Yes.” Her chin tilted up and she rocked her hips forward. He leaned his mouth in to lavish one hardened peak and then the other with his tongue. She couldn’t help but move, grinding against him and gripping the back of the couch. They were both breathing heavily now.

His fingers found the opening of her jeans again, this time sliding the button open and the zipper down. One fingertip crooked into the elastic of her underwear, moving teasingly side to side. “Like this?”

“Yes,” she panted. “I wanted you so much.”

He moved his hands to her hips and held her tightly. “When you...imagined it, what did you do?”

She breathed out a little laugh, feeling suddenly shy. She was usually confident, even aggressive when she wanted or needed to be, but damn he could get to her. Make her blush, make her stomach flip. And there was no question that he had just turned the dial on her arousal up to 11. She was very, very warm and very, very wet now.

He kissed her knowingly. “Can you show me?”

She slowly reopened her eyes. “Yes,” she exhaled. She took her hand off the back of the couch and ran it deliberately over his arm and down his sculpted torso, enjoying the velvety feel of his skin over hard muscle. Then she touched her own body, slipping inside her panties. The slide of her fingers brought a welcome rush of pleasure and relief, and she dug her other hand into the leather of the coach. She let out a soft moan that made Matt’s cock twitch in his pants.

He squeezed her hips. “Don’t try to be quiet,” he said, an edge of command in his voice that made a thrill zip down her spine.

She moved slowly, rocking against him as her fingers slipped and circled. She watched him closely as his breathing intensified, as his skin flushed hotter, as he bit his lip until it went an even deeper shade of red. His hands began to move restlessly, desperately, over her body, touching her everywhere, ghosting over her hand to feel the movements she was making.

And it was a total fucking rush, affecting him this way, listening to the needy noises bubbling up from his throat, matching her own. His desire was making her wild with want. And maybe she could believe that she hadn’t embarrassed herself way back when — maybe her body’s response to him had only made him want her more, just like this. It made her smile a little.

And she didn’t want to let go of the feeling, she wanted to prolong this delicious need, so she pulled her hand away. Matt immediately lifted it to his mouth, licking softly at the pads of her fingers and then sucking them clean. The fire in her belly flared so hot she thought she might crumble to ash. And he was her only hope of relief.

She worked open his pants, guided him out through his soft boxer briefs, moved her hand over him until his head lolled back and he was begging without even being able to string together his ragged syllables into words. She stood up then, peeled off her jeans slowly while he panted and reached for her. And finally she was bare to him and she was moving over him and slipping him inside of her and—

"Jesus," she said, expecting it, craving it, and yet still being caught off guard by the intensity of the sensation as he went right to the core of her. Nothing had prepared her for what this was like with him — the rawness and the worship and the feeling of being as exposed as the desert, no walls, nowhere to hide. They were like two broken pieces — their lives sharp-edged and painful — but there was absolutely nothing that could compare to the way that they fit together.

And then his hand was on hers, placing it back where it had been before, and she took the hint, sliding her fingers against herself as they moved together. He was touching her greedily, up and down her body, urging her on with mumbled, tumbling words, tender as bruises. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him, from the absolutely beautiful sight of Matt coming completely undone.

"Karen—I can't—"

“It’s OK, baby,” she breathed. “I want it.”

"Oh, God," he said and pulled her hips down hard against him as he went over the edge. Her eyes fell shut and her head tilted back as she pushed herself over with him, feeling the world go somehow black and bright at the same time.

* * *

Later, they curled up together amid silk sheets, Matt’s hand combing through her hair, and he broke the silence that had twined around them like the night. “I’m sorry,” he whispered in a blurry voice.

Karen’s face crinkled. “What?”

“I was just thinking...I cheated us out of so much time.”

“Oh, Matt,” she said, smoothing her hand over his face. “No.” She bit her lip thoughtfully. “I don’t know...what it would have been, before. But it wouldn’t—it wouldn’t have been this.”

“And this is good?”

“This is very, very good.”

Matt kissed her, softly and sweetly, and tried to pull her closer, even though there was nowhere to go. “I don’t know if I can go out tonight,” he said, his lips moving against her skin. “I’ve never felt less like punching people in my life.”

“You could always cuddle them into submission,” she teased. “The hugger of Hell’s Kitchen.”

He laughed, but she could feel the slight tension in his muscles, the way his mood was already starting to shift. Something out there in the city had caught his attention.

“You need to go, don’t you?”

He sighed. “Am I just cheating us out of more time?”

“You’re being who you are. That’s all I want.” She grinned. “Plus watching you get all suited up is...enjoyable.”

“Don’t get too excited,” he said as he climbed out of bed. “Now I know what you do when you’re all alone and thinking of me.”

She was tempted to throw a pillow at him, but she just shook her head and laughed. “Better hurry back then,” she said. “If you don’t want to miss out.”

He turned back toward the bed. “So you’ll stay?” His voice sounded so hopeful and eager that she felt a sharp little ache in her chest.

“As long as you want me.”

“I have to warn you, that’s going to require a pretty significant investment of your time.”

“Bring it on, Daredevil. I’m not afraid.”

And she got one last kiss out of him before he disappeared with her heart into the night. She could only hope he’d bring it back to her in one piece.


End file.
